Scars
by Ignorant Sparrow
Summary: She needed her wounds healed, although she was scarred for life.
1. Chapter 1

It's been seven months of hell for Lin. Exactly seven months ago Tenzin walked out of her life for that floozy air acolyte. If it wasn't for Toph, Lin would have thrown the timid young girl in jail. Five months after that, Toph had decided to join Aang, her lifelong friend, at last. Lin did not know what her mother was thinking. Leaving her like that, when she needed her the most. The only thing that Lin clearly remembers about the dreadful ceremony was she looking at Toph's peaceful face as she slept while Katara's occasional sobs broke the heavy silence in the atmosphere. Lin did not acknowledge any gesturers of comfort or sympathy from who knew who! She did not remember who came to grieve or who did not. It did not matter. The only person that mattered was there, right in front of her, peacefully asleep. So she just sat there, awaiting her awakening. But sadly, she did not. Avatar's family was extremely worried for her. They were worried that she'd do something stupid or devastating out of grief. But she had surprised them by simply kissing Toph on the forehead and giving her a lingering hug before she left. No tears whatsoever!

The very next day, Lin had shown up in the headquarters and took her place as the chief of police. Ever since then, she had been working restless. No Katara or Kya had succeeded in sharing her grief or getting her to talk about it. Bumi had come to HQ before he left and pulled Lin in to a tight hug. Lin did not return the gesture though she did not protest. So, Bumi has left succeeding only to get a mere nod from Lin to his heartfelt words of sympathy. When it came to Tenzin, she didn't even care to listen to him. Everything felt empty without Toph. It was just Lin and the rest of the world, to which she was bound by duty, only by duty.

A month had passed and Lin was tired. She needed a break from everything, from everyone. She needed not to walk pass Toph's statue every morning, feeling that she was giving her the smug smile Lin so loved. She needed a break from sympathetic looks and hushed conversations that died down when she got closer to the whisperers. She needed a break from Kya, Katara and Bumi's messages that had started to pile on her locker, unopened an untouched. She needed to get away from Tenzin's guilty conscious and his gray eyes that bore holes in to her head at every council meeting, trying to get her attention and to get her to talk about… everything. She needed time out. She needed her wounds healed, though she knew she's scarred for life, first by Tenzin's betrayal, then by Toph.

So, at the next council meeting, it wasn't the chief who represented the police, but the deputy. Tenzin waited patiently till the meeting was over and asked the deputy about the chief's absence.

"Chief has taken leave. Straight for a month." He said giving Tenzin a very displeased look. "Difficult time for her councilman! First you abandoned her. Then the late chief. In such a short time span!" And he walked away, leaving Tenzin to stare at his own feet.

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"Didn't she tell where she was going?" Tenzin asked the maid of Beifong manor.

"No. She But she won't be here for a while Councilman. Lin said she'd be visiting few places." The maid answered with a peculiar expression which Tenzin recognized to be a combination of equal dislike and respect for him.

"OK. Fine. If you hear from her, please let me know." He said giving her a curt bow and standing up from his chair. He noticed a map with several crosses marking it, lying on the stool few feet away. Using his bending he took the map and examined it, only to have his eyes widen in shock. The desert, Serpent's pass, and the Wu-long forest! Could these possibly be Lin's places of visiting? Was this Lin's travel plan?


	2. Chapter 2

"_It was the hardest time of our travels, for me! I didn't know where I was going. Sand was shifty and it made everything look fuzzy. Aang blamed me for Appa been stolen, the sun was ruthless and I was for once blind. I felt lost."_

"_So what did you do, mom? How did you survive those tough times?"_

"_Sometimes squirt; we got to keep moving even if we don't know where we are headed or what's waiting for us. Coz the stay can suffocate us."_

The sun was still ruthless and the dusty breeze was resentful. Lin straightened her straw hat and stepped inside the pub by the edge of the desert. She paid for refreshment and sat down to a wooden table, unfolding a scroll of a detailed map. She ran her index finger along the red line starting from the red cross that marked the desert towards the famous waterfall miles away. She raised her head as the host approached her with the drink she ordered.

"Do you know where I can rent a sand bending sail?"

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Tenzin loaded Oogie's saddle with supplies for a rough trip. Pema frowned from behind him.

"I'm sure Lin can take care of herself. She's not a little girl you know!"

Tenzin sighed audibly. "Look Pema, we've had this talk like three times already!"

"What makes you think, even if she has gone to the places you think, that she'll listen to you and ride back with you? She hasn't talked to you for eight months." Pema reasoned with a pout.

"I'm not going to talk her out of her plans Pema. I wanna make sure, if she needs help, she gets them." Tenzin said, landing softly in front of Pema and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Aunt Toph's departure has had her broken." He explained, not wanting to accept that he had done his fair share in wounding Lin badly. "She hasn't shed a single tear since. She's keeping it all bottled down. She's not answering to any of mom's, Kya's or Bumi's letters, she always brushes me off when I try to make her talk. At this rate she'd explode. She's my friend before my ex Pema. I can't sit and watch her get wasted."

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Lin thanked the sand bending lessons at ember beach as she sand bended her sail through the desert. "I definitely prefer the beach over desert." She mumbled as the night breeze ruffled her curly hair. "I can't believe you guys travelled across this sand pit in broad day light, on foot!" She said to the ever spreading sky above her as a light sigh escaped her nose trills. Taking out the pocket compass Lin checked if she's going in the right direction. She's been travelling for three days now and she was almost out of food and water. The pointer of the compass had stopped dead. "I must be close to the hive-rock you told me about!" Lin said glancing at the black bracelet around her right wrist. "Let's go!"

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"Yes. A beauty walked down to the desert two days ago." The host of the dirty pub told Tenzin carelessly. "She won't make it out alive. We tried to warn her, but she wouldn't hear a word of it. She did pay a hefty price for one of our sand sails. So we got nothing to complain."

Tenzin glared at the man for few seconds. "Do you know where she's headed?"

"No. But you do have a sky bison. So why don't you fly up and find your girl friend before it's too late." Man winked with a nasty smile.

"She's not my-" Tenzin bellowed but caught himself before losing it. He turned with an angry breeze that send the man stumbling back few feet, and left the pub. "Yip Yip" Oogie heard Tenzin say as he sat and took the sky bison reigns. So they were off to find Lin.

A day later Tenzin saw a huge rock in the midst of the desert. He landed his exhausted sky bison there just to get some rest. They've been flying for an entire day but there was no sign of Lin or her sand sail. Tenzin sighed. It shouldn't be too hard to spot a single sand sail from up the sky. Did something happen to Lin?

As he took a good long look around the rock, he realized it's a hive, the same hive from his father's stories, and that Lin had been here. Tenzin saw few gigantic wasp-bees trapped in erected earth, and few knocked out. An earth tent stood abandoned to a corner of the rock.

Tenzin sighed. "I hope you are OK Lin."

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Lin's feet dangled from the rocky river bed she was sitting staring blankly at the tall waterfall before her. "I did fine, didn't I?" She whispered squeezing her left forearm which was heavily bandaged. "Only one managed to sting me"

She took a long draught from the potion she had brewed for herself. Her fever was getting down and she was up for travelling again. She emptied the cup in to the river and got up. "Through the full moon bay, Serpent's pass it is!" She told the waterfall. "Mom, it's payback time!"


	3. Chapter 3

"_It was scary.I couldn't see the serpent but I knew it was enormous. It destroyed my little island. I couldn't swim. So I –for the first time in my life- squeaked crying for help!" _

"_What happened?"_

"_I distantly heard your uncle Sokka yell 'I'm coming Toph' just before I drowned deeper in to the sea. Two hands grabbed me under the arm pits and pulled me to the surface. I kissed the person in the cheek thanking Sokka for saving me. Alas! It turned out to be your aunt Suki!"_

"_Eww! Embarrassing!"_

"_Tell me about it kiddo! I suggested Suki to go ahead and let me drown right there and then."_

"_I'm glad she didn't mom. How could I live without you?"_

"_Aww! Cut the mushy lines sweetstuff! I'm here and ain't going nowhere!"_

"Liar! No one stays. Not even you, mom!" Lin mumbled as she stared at the huge archway with the carvings 'Abandon Hope' on it. "Good advice!" Lin said to the archway as she slowly walked ahead.

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Tenzin didn't waste any time heading towards the Serpent's pass as soon as he found the sand sail which was supposedly Lin's and few bloody bandages, also supposedly Lin's, in an abandon campsite near the waterfall. The fire pit had few half burnt bandages that held fair amount of blood on them. It was fresh. Lin cannot be too far. If luck favours him, he'd catch up before with her before she reaches her next destination.

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"Come on; come on, where are you?" Lin yelled standing at the edge of the destroyed path that led to the other side. "You can't be dead! You serpents live for hundreds of years, unlike people!"

She got in to her horse stance and bended huge rocks from the hill to the sea. The collapsing created a giant wave and a growl was heard, a growl unmistakably belonged to a something gigantic, a giant horrible creature.

"There you are! Now let's see how you stop me from getting to the other side!" Lin said aloud putting down the large crate she was carrying on her back. She clicked it open and took out her metal-bending armour top. Ignoring the pain rose from her wasp-bee stung arm, Lin put it on and shot few cables that entwined with the hill side of the other side. But before her feet left the ground the angry serpent appeared roaring before her.

"Give me you best shot!" Lin yelled as she leapt forward.

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Tenzin lowered Oogie towards the serpent's pass only to see havoc in the sea. A metal bender was fighting a giant serpent and that metal bender was-

"LIN!" He let out a horrified shout. Lin's focus shifted for the briefest moment and she paid the price. The serpent wagged his ugly tail and gave Lin two large gashes across her right cheek. Lin gritted her teeth as the pain made her brains go numb. She ignored both the pain and Tenzin's terrified yells and shot two metal cables right through the serpent's eye. It howled with pain and twisted its body violently throwing Lin, who was dangling from the cables on its back, shooting towards the shore. She used her metal bending precisely and landed gracefully on the shore and watched as the serpent disappeared under the sea. Oogie landed with a thud and Tenzin jumped hurriedly down from the saddle. Lin ignored him as she fished her bag for more bandages while blood kept oozing down her face.

"Lin! Spirits! You are hurt." Tenzin shrieked, dropping besides her and taking her by chin to life her face up. Lin politely cast away his hand while taking out a bundle of cotton gorse which she jabbed carelessly to her wound, not saying a word to Tenzin.

Tenzin, in his panic, ignored Lin's protest and tried to examine her wound once again. Lin abruptly stood up making him topple to a side. Still jabbing the gorse to the wound she used her metal cables to pull her crate from the other side of the shore towards her. Tenzin watched her as an angry glint rose to his eyes. He watched as Lin bended off the armour and enclosed it in the crate. He watched blood dripped down her face, not stopping for once.

He stood up as well. "I'm going to take you to a healer." He said trying to get the crate from her hands.

"No thanks!" Lin said coldly. "Go home Tenzin."

Tenzin glared at her in frustration. With a speed that only an air-bender could manage he grabbed Lin by waist and bended them both on to Oogie's saddle.

"Play it your way Lin, but before you go anywhere, you are seeing a healer. I may not be a friend to you anymore but you are to me, always!" He said as he let her go and yip-yiped Oogie with out delay. Lin stumbled a little as she felt dizzy due to blood loss. But she drew a deep breath and stood still. "It's not that I don't appreciate your concern, but I need to do this on my own." She said in an even voice, fighting her anger and tears successfully back.

Tenzin stared at her with a mixture of sorrow, grief, affection and anger in his gray eyes before he took a brave step forward and hugged her. Lin almost gave in and relaxed her exhausted self in his comfortable arms. But not quiet. Het right hand rose feebly up and she tried to push Tenzin back. But his lanky arms were wrapped tightly around her in a trapping manner. He was trying to put all his unspoken worries and apologies in to that one hug. Lin was breaking down in his familiar arms. All the tears she fought back for the last eight months were threatening to pour out her jade eyes. She felt her head ache like it was about to split in to two. She felt an unpleasant lump in her throat, She felt all the air been pumped out her lungs. Her eyes rolled in their sockets and she fell, fell in to nothingness.


End file.
